Stop, Drop, 'n' Treehouse
Location: Oceanside, California Date: November 22, 1993 Story On November 22, 1993, in Oceanside, California, just three days before Thanksgiving, eleven-year-old Billy Graham and his friend, R.J., were in their treehouse lighting candles for nighttime in the backyard, while Billy's ten-year-old sister, Becky, was inside the house watching television. "When other people are around, he's a big brother. But when it comes to them being alone together, they are at each other's throats. Puberty's going on," said their mother, Sheryl. Sheryl asked Becky to go outside and see what Billy was up to. She went outside, saw him and R.J. lighting the candles in their treehouse, and lied saying that they were doing nothing. "R.J. was placing the index card on top of the candle until it burned," said Becky. Billy had turned his back to hammer more wood, was unaware that a candle was already lit, and said that his back felt hot. Becky saw that it was on fire and he jumped out of the treehouse screaming in pain. R.J. immediately ran home and said, "I panicked and ran away." He later said that it was a dumb thing to do instead of staying to help Becky. Becky had learned stop, drop and roll in school and told Billy to do so to put out the fire. Sheryl heard his screams and saw that his back was burned. Becky ran inside and called 911. "You could hear him screaming from the top of the street but I was scared for him," said Becky. Sheryl had Billy stand up and was going to take him to the shower when she realized that his burns were bad, had him lay back down, and ran in to get some water. "I knew from nursing training to put water on burned patients and as long as he was okay it helped," said Sheryl. Becky flagged down the ambulance as soon as they arrived. Oceanside Fire Rescue units including firefighter/paramedic Scott Stein arrived and could see that Billy was seriously burnt and dispatched a helicopter because ground transport would've been way too long and painful for him. "I could hear the young man's scream," said Scott. Becky felt guilty at not being able to stop Billy. Billy was airlifted to the University of California in San Diego where Dr. John Hansbro took over his care. "His burns were mostly likely third degree and it was apparent that they were deep and required skin grafting," said Dr. Hansbro. Three days later, Billy underwent his first skin graft operation with Sheryl at his side. "Billy is very lucky because if Becky hadn't been with him, he probably would've died from what the doctors and nurses were saying," said Sheryl. Billy's father, Brian, visited him every day after work. "Billy was in the hospital ten of the longest days of my life," said Brian. One year later, Billy is still adjusting to the scars and emotions he suffered in the incident. "I just want to thank Becky and the paramedics for saving my life," said Billy. Category:1993 Category:California Category:Burns Category:Holiday Category:Kid Heroes Category:Fires